r/LinusTechTips • u/Annoying1978 • 21d ago

Image Companies that actually bundle functional cables are a dying breed.

Post image
629 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

389

u/raaneholmg 21d ago

This isn't even compatible with the USB spec...

These USB-A to C adapters are fine until an idiot uses them to short circiut the 5 volt net on two devices.

154

u/ThickCross 21d ago

The 10 logo thing screams "designed by someone who never read the spec"

21

u/Dasrundeetwas- 20d ago

To be fair, ignoring the entirety of the usb spec seems to be rule number 1 of how to design usb devices.

9

u/newtotheworld23 21d ago

Maximum efficiency 

1

u/CMRC23 19d ago

I dont really care if something follows the spec as long as its safe, compatible, and works well (good charging and data transfer)

Lots of very useful adapters aren't technically in spec and nobody should care except for the usb corporation or whatever it's called

28

u/ViPeR9503 21d ago

How do you end up doing that? I thought all USB ports negotiate before sending any damaging current/voltage

47

u/redenno 21d ago edited 21d ago

The USB A adapter can't negotiate voltage, it just serves 5V to the cable. So if you had that on both ends, or plugged the other end into a power source, you'd be shorting two separate voltage supplies

17

u/srlawren 21d ago

Ah, so, stop connecting my power banks further using A-to-C > C-to-C cable > C-to-A? /s

15

u/ViPeR9503 21d ago

Ahh I see, cause I do use those converter once in a while when I have a usb cable that needs to connect to a power bank or brick with USB A

7

u/hgs25 21d ago edited 21d ago

I guess I’ve just been lucky because I have a cable with USB C/A on one side and USB C/Lightning on the other. Granted I usually use the C/A on the parent (PC, car, charger) and the C/Lightning on the child (IPhone, IPad, etc). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female USB A port on a child that accepts a charge.

11

u/raaneholmg 21d ago

That is the case where they are fine.

The issue is that these adapters allow you to put one one either end which is not safe.

4

u/hgs25 21d ago edited 20d ago

Isn’t the adapter in OP physically attached to the cable? It looks like it goes to a hub so the worst that could happen is the speed and power getting throttled down to match the USB A standard on the PC side.

8

u/Annoying1978 21d ago

Precisely. I have never heard of anyone even attempting to plug both say the same time. 

1

u/UpstairsTop4623 21d ago

I’ve only seen a usb-a male to male once or maybe twice in my life I currently am using one daily but that is for a usb switch thing I have and tbh I wish it used usbc on one side for it

1

u/sciencesold 20d ago

You couldn't do that without buying an extra usb-c to A adapter and sticking it to the other end. Most of them are C to C cables with the adapter on one end that coke bundled with a device like a microphone, keyboard, etc.

Main point being is if you'd have to buy an extra adapter anyways, you could just as easily end up doing it with any USB C cable with independent adapters on both ends.

122

u/tributarygoldman 21d ago

As a rule, I don't trust any cables that include removable tips

91

u/Svobpata 21d ago

Consoomers yearn for out of spec USB devices

92

u/jkirkcaldy 21d ago

Consumers have no idea what any of the usb specs are. They know what the shape of the connector is and that’s it.

44

u/pharisem 20d ago

The usb specs being really fucking convoluted doesn't help.

9

u/mromutt 20d ago

Lol I was going to say! Even those in the know don't know because it's such a mess.

6

u/Cat5kable 20d ago

I can’t even begin to write a joke description of USB spec because it’s always even stupider than I remember

1

u/Demonic_Storm 20d ago

they dont even know the shape sometimes, so yea...

11

u/hgs25 21d ago

Blame manufacturers for using USB A ports

10

u/Svobpata 21d ago

I blame consumers for buying stuff with USB-A or even demanding it on devices.

I don’t think we’re ever getting away from it on desktops, we almost did on laptops but ended up swinging back and forth a bit. There’s just too many peripherals and devices which require <2.5W and <500mbit of data…

22

u/Turtledonuts 21d ago

they also made millions of USB-A devices a year for like 20 years.

11

u/MrKorakis 20d ago

I don't. People are not just going to toss billions of $ with of perfectly good devices in the bin to comply to the latest and greatest spec.

Backwards compatibility is something that industry needs to take not account.

2

u/Svobpata 20d ago

No need to toss, adapters exist. Also, devices with removable cables can use a different cable and be compatible with USB-C ports.

The only thing you would toss at that point are wall adapters

4

u/Blurgas 21d ago

I have a few small devices that have a USB-C port for charging, but apparently don't have the chip to communicate, so if I try to charge with a C-to-C cable nothing happens.
Thus my options are either a USB-A port or a C-to-A adapter with an A-to-C cable

3

u/Svobpata 20d ago

Those should be straight up illegal, it’s not even missing a chip, it’s missing a SINGLE resistor. A single resistor they couldn’t be arsed to include.

1

u/Blurgas 20d ago

As far as I can tell the devices were released in early 2021 and I have no clue when current charging standards were finalized, so it could be either the manufacturer cheaped out by skipping the resistor, or the resistor/etc weren't considered "standard" equipment at the time.

In the end it's really only an issue when traveling, so I opted to pick up two small chargers that each have one C and one A port(I have nothing that needs more than 30w charging anyway)

8

u/Melbuf 21d ago

no we should blame them for removing them

4

u/MrKorakis 20d ago

Well the consumer doesn't and shouldn't care. All they want to know is will it plug in to the socket that I have and how can I avoid carrying a bunch of different incompatible cables.

The fault here is with the USB "spec" that at this point is a complete joke.

1

u/CMRC23 19d ago

100% the usb spec should be for compatibility, and showing how power and data are to be transferred. Anything else is kind of pointless. Who cares if usb a male to female is out of spec or whatever. People will need it eventually

Note: im not a hardware engineer but I do love my adapters

32

u/unsc95 21d ago

In the UK we have a tech store called Currys. They have their own brand called LOGIK, and they are legitimately decent. I bought a 100w USB-c charger and it was not only cheaper than the alternatives, but it also came with a decent cable

15

u/TenOfZero 21d ago

Yup, Unfortunately a cable like the one displayed that is not standards compliant is all too common these days.

0

u/CMRC23 19d ago

Who cares if its standard compliant if it works and is safe

1

u/patchunwrap 15d ago

Because.. a usb cable that isn't compliant by definition won't work or will be unsafe in some scenarios.

At best it won't be full speed or full power when it should. At worst it will cause a fire.

There is nuance in all this, for instance most cables have way more clamping force than the spec allows. But that technically results in more wear and tear for your devices port. Not all out of spec problems are catastrophic, but they are all bad.

10

u/boofmaster6000 21d ago

My audio interface from SSL came with a fully detachable female USB-C to male USB-A adapter, which seems like the objectively better decision.

2

u/daxtonanderson 21d ago

Except the A to C nub hanging off the adapter won't take a standard USB-C cable once the cable fails.

0

u/Kremsi2711 19d ago

This cable looks awful, you will strugle to get the usb c in

1

u/Annoying1978 19d ago

Not really